Proactive Recruiting: Talent Relationship Management (TRM)

The New Frontier in Recruiting

Recruiting high quality talent has always been an important source of value and a challenge at the same time for companies. In this ‘brave new world’, new work practices and the effects of social and mobile are emerging each and every day. Due to demographic changes and economic growth, candidates have more choices and demand is increasing for the highly skilled workers. Considering that skill shortage is deemed as a major challenge by 73% of the CEOs according to a global CEO survey done by PwC on 2015, the challenge of recruiting is becoming harder rather than easier.

How to address the issue?

Yes, you guessed it right: Talent Relationship Management (TRM). As recently as 2014, 60% of companies recruit in a reactive way: thus starting from posting a job requisition, collecting and screening resumes, communicating with candidates that meet certain requirements and moving on the selection process. This process is reactive and passive because companies wait for candidates to approach and convince them that they are of high value. However, Talent Relationship Management offers a new mindset, new methods and tools for a proactive approach. The emphasis is on finding the suitable talent before it is required through the use of extensive talent pipelines so that when the talent is actually needed, you can nurture your relationship with candidates and move them through the funnel much faster.

This concept might seem familiar to some and for good reason. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) aims to enhance, streamline, and improve the consistency of customer relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Similarly, Talent Relationship Management is a mean to enhance the relationship with potential talent during their career lifecycle. Moreover, both practices draw on the support of data and analytics to power effective management of the related business processes. Though it is important to stress the similarities between these two terms, evidently TRM has different tools and dynamics.  

4 Main Building Blocks of TRM

Active Sourcing:

The most important element of all. Every company wants the same high quality talent nowadays but it is unrealistic to expect that they are going to be actively looking for a job. In fact, research  performed by LinkedIn on Talent Trends in 2016 shows that 90% of candidates are interested about hearing new job opportunities but 64% of them are passive.

If candidates are passive, that they do not go to your website, job portals or job fairs, then you have to get active in order to find and convince them.  You go out, find your target group and actively get in touch with them.  – Prof. Dr. Armin Trost

Employer Branding:

So you have decided to get active but have you double-checked if you have the correct employer brand perception? Every interaction with the customers, employees, candidates are an opportunity to build an employer brand and engage with potential talent. For instance, company website is where the potential candidates look to get an idea of the company and interact the first time. Here you can give them the option to opt-in to sign up for job alerts or referring a friend via posting open positions to social media.

Recruitment Marketing:

Different communication channels for recruitment purposes such as company career website, social media and e-mail marketing campaigns, job boards and employee referrals, are used in a consistent manner under TRM. To use these channels, recruiters should give candidates the opportunity to ‘opt-in’ and get engaged with the company and become part of the talent network.

Talent pools and pipelines:

Now you found your potential candidates and they are aware of you, it is the time to engage with them and move them through the funnel. First, creation of easy-access, centralized talent pools, both internal and external are key. Starting from this, emails, invitations to apply for jobs, automated message cycles and keep-warm calls can be used to engage. However, it is important to note that communications should be targeted based on candidates’ preferences and the talent pool they belong. Thus, your company does not miss the chance to acquire the necessary talent while avoiding spams.

What it takes to succeed with your Talent Relationship Management strategy?

It requires a system with the necessary capabilities and establishments to manage first. Then more importantly, the company philosophy and understanding that recruiting has changed and talent has become the main focus. This is exactly why you should adopt TRM.